Pharrell Williams brings India and Beyoncé to Louis Vuitton’s Pompidou runway

PARIS (AP) – The birds scattered in every direction as the first drumbeat thundered across the plaza outside Paris’ Pompidou Center Tuesday, clearing the way for a different kind of flight: Beyoncé and Jay-Z swept into the front row.

The star couple anchored a guest list at Pharrell Williams’ latest Louis Vuitton spectacle that doubled as a map of contemporary culture now: Bradley Cooper, J-Hope, Karol G, Pinkpanthress, Future, Pusha T, Jackson Wang, Bambam, Mason Thames, Miles Caton, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Malcolm Washington, Jalen Ramsey, and A$AP Nast. If there was any question about the gravitational pull of Louis Vuitton under Williams, it evaporated before the first look hit the runway.

This was no ordinary catwalk: Williams – half showman, half pop impresario – staged a cultural passage from Paris to Mumbai, fusing Indian tradition and modern dandyism into a punchy, sunstruck vision of the Vuitton man in 2026.

In Vuitton’s world, a show is never just a show. It’s a takeover, a mood. On Tuesday, the Pompidou’s iconic colored pipes served as a sci-fi backdrop for a set dreamed up with Studio Mumbai architect Bijoy Jain: a life-size “Snakes and Ladders” board, alluding to both the child’s game and the adult risks of fashion’s global game. For Williams, the house’s mantra of travel is less about destination, more about movemen. Up, down, sideways, sunward.

The clothes? This season, they marched to their own drumbeat. Out came models in Indian-style chunky sandals, striped boxy shorts and blue preppy shirts with sleeves billowing like monsoon sails. Silken cargo pants shimmered in the sun; pin-striped puffers added a louche, almost Bollywood-kitsch edge. Cricket jerseys appeared with jeweled collars or – why not? – a puffy hood dripping with rhinestones. Blue pearlescent leather bombers flirted with the bling of Mumbai’s film sets, while pin-striped tailoring riffed on both the British Raj and Parisian boulevardiers.

If all this felt like cultural collision, that’s by design. Williams’ Vuitton has become a mood board for global wanderlust: the checked silks, the mismatched stripes, the trompe l’oeil fabrics that look sun-faded by actual adventures. It’s a nod to the itinerant dandyism that’s fast becoming his Vuitton calling card. Less about nostalgia, more about now.

But don’t mistake the globe-trotting optimism for naivety. There’s calculation in the chaos. Williams’ references bounce from Kenzo ‘s Nigo (his onetime collaborator) to Indian contemporary artisans – like the hand-beaded snakes slithering across shirts, or the sandalwood-scented linens that recall a summer in Rajasthan. The “worldwide community” Vuitton preaches is real, but it’s also realpolitik: What could be more luxurious in 2025 than clothing that tries to please everyone and everywhere, without losing itself?

Of course, with Vuitton, the accessories make the man and this season’s bags, bejeweled sandals and hardware-heavy necklaces delivered the requisite Instagram bait, each a covetable passport stamp in leather or gold. It’s maximalism, sure, but not just for the TikTok set: the craftsmanship, from sun-bleached cloth to hand-loomed stripes, rewards anyone who bothers to look twice.

If there’s a criticism, it’s that sometimes the noise of references threatens to drown out the signal. Williams piles motif on motif, color on color, joy on joy, until coherence blurs into sheer, Dionysian energy. But maybe that’s the point: In a season of global anxiety the Vuitton man chooses to strut, sparkle, and swerve.

LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group, posted record revenue of 84.7 billion euros in 2024, with its Fashion & Leather Goods division anchored by Louis Vuitton still leading the pack. With a market value near $455 billion and over 6,300 stores worldwide, Vuitton remains the world’s most valuable luxury brand. Even with a recent dip in sales, its scale and influence are unmatched.

As the last look circled the Pompidou and the birds resettled, Vuitton’s odyssey felt less like a fashion show and more like an announcement: the world is a game board, the ladders are real, and Louis Vuitton is still rolling the dice.